Korea’s securities regulator has slapped Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and five other companies with fines ranging from 120 million won (US$81,700) to 2.2 billion won for violating short-selling rules.
The Korea Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published the list on its website on January 22.
The other firms sanctioned are Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation, Invesco and Northern Trust from the US, Korea’s Shinhan Asset Management, and Norway’s Pareto Securities.
The news was first reported by Korea’s The Chosun Daily, which quoted people familiar with the local investment management industry. According to the report, the SFC decided on the fines last October.
GIC was fined for short-selling 8,415 shares in luxury hotel chain Hotel Shilla valued at 666.1 million won in March 2022, when the SFC’s ban on short-selling imposed during Covid-19 was still in effect.
Pareto was fined 2.2 billion won for short-selling about 178,000 Samsung Electronics shares in November 2022.
The SFC instituted the ban in March 2020 to stabilise the stock market amid volatility and capital outflow during the pandemic. It was lifted in March 2024.
A GIC spokesperson attributed the violation to operational lapses, errors and contractual breaches by a third-party agent.
“The agent has acknowledged its responsibility, liabilities and accepted full accountability to GIC for its lapses to the Korean regulator,” the spokesperson says.
Alberta Investment Management was fined 546.9 million won; Invesco, 532.3 million won; Shinhan, 370 million won; and Northern Trust, 141.7 million won. Their specific violations are unclear.
